Saturday, December 15, 2012

FRITZ THE CAT (1972)

One of the most outrageously
funny animation I’ve ever seen. The film is regarded as avant garde animation
and almost gained a cult status for both its experimental content and form
considered controversial at the time of its release due to adult and sexually offensive
X rated content. The film is the brainchild of underground comic strip artist Robert
Crumb and independent screenplay writer-director Ralph Bakshi. It begins with
1960s happy time heavy time and it pokes fun at bourgeois, pulp loving,
hedonist American type society of period touching contemporary topics of street
life of youth, counter culture, street protests, racial crisis, rise of black
power, pot smoking joints, free sex with outrageous black humor. Fritz is the anthropomorphic
bachelor cat who considers himself cool running after private fun. Characters
are dark, weird, nonsense and horny who constantly abusing, smoking weed, farting,
and scratching their crotch. The film became one of the most successful independent
animation of all-time. However Crumb didn’t like the final product for so many
reasons including showing repressed horniness to sexual content. He also filed
a suit to remove his name from its film credits.

However compared to this, I
enjoyed its sequel titled as ‘The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat’ which released
two years after the success of its predecessor and directed by Robert Taylor. It
represents seventies phase. The film is quite different in treatment since
neither Crumb nor Bakshi was involved with it. Here the bachelor Fritz of
earlier part is married now and has a kid. His nagging wife bashing him and
he’s imagining different lives and most of them turned out as wild fun. That
space shuttle sex with reporter lady and Hitler fun is just amazing.

About Me

Born in 1977 and professionally lecturer,I love to explore life in all its intricacies around me. Reading-imagining-thinking, watching/analysing films, listening music are more than passion- obsession and compulsion for me to survive like air, water and food. Only like minded ones can understand some of my lunatic passion while reading this blog.I also love to meet people, hanging out different places, observe people while trying to adjust the struggling identities of being animal and human.